raggling town in the valley below. These hills, he thought, with all
their treasures, were to be sold and purchased for a price, for a
treasure greater than all their worth,--the hand of the woman whom he
loved. She had consented to the bargain. She had been true to the
States, and not to Heart's Desire. She had been true to her class, and
not to him, who had left her class. She had been true to her sex, and
not to him, her unready lover. Ah, he had not deserved her
remembrance; but still she ought to have remembered him! He had not
been worthy of her, but still she ought to have loved him! He had
offered her nothing, he had evaded her, shunned her, slighted her--but
in spite of that she ought to have waited for him, and to have loved
him through all, and believed in him in spite of all!

He sat, befooled and befuddled, arguing, accusing, denying, doubting,
until he knew not where treachery began or faith had ended. It was
late when he descended the mountain and walked dully down the street.

All this time Constance, in ignorance of everything except the absolute
truth, sat in the meagre room of the little stone hotel. She wondered
if there would ever be any change in her manner of life, if there would
ever be anything but this continuous following of her father from one
commercial battle into another. She wondered why Dan Anderson did not
come. Surely he was here. Surely his business was with his employers;
and more surely than all, and in spite of all, his place was here with
her; because her heart cried out for him. In spite of all, he was her
heart's desire. Why did he not come?

She arose, her hands clenched; she hated him, as much as she had longed
for him.

CHAPTER XVIII

THE MEETING AT HEART'S DESIRE

_How Benevolent Assimilation was checked by Unexpected Events_

There are two problems in life, and only two: food and love.
Civilization offers us no more, nor indeed does barbarism; for
civilization and barbarism are not far apart. The great metropolis
which sent its emissaries out to the little mountain hamlet never held
within its teeming confines any greater or graver questions than those
which were now to come before the town meeting of Heart's Desire.

Down at the stone hotel of Uncle Jim Brothers the tables had been
cleared away to make room for this event, the first of its kind ever
known in that valley. Heretofore there had been no covenant among
these men, no law save that